THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, thanks for coming. I'm honored to
welcome you to the White House, and I'm pleased that you could join us
today as the United States takes an important step to promote economic
growth, to bring lower prices to American consumers and to generate
high-wage jobs for American workers.

With the agreements I sign today, America's economic relationships
with Chile and Singapore will be based on free trade. And we will be
bound even closer to two of our good friends. The benefits will flow
to all our countries. And by these agreements we are moving toward a
great goal: a world that trades in freedom, in the Western Hemisphere,
in Asia and beyond. I want to thank all those who worked so hard to
complete these agreements. I commend the members of the Congress for
moving quickly to approve the implementing legislation.

I'm pleased to be joined by members of my Cabinet who have worked
hard on these agreements, and are working hard on future agreements to
be passed. Secretary of State Powell is doing a fabulous job on behalf
of the American people; Secretary Ann Veneman of the Department of
Agriculture; Secretary Don Evans, Department of Commerce; and our Trade
Representative, Bob Zoellick.

I also appreciate the members of Congress who are up here with me
today: Senators Hatch and Baucus; as well as Chairman Bill Thomas,
David Drier and Phil Crane, from the House of Representatives. Good,
strong members of the Senate and the House who have worked closely with
this administration to create an environment for economic growth and
high wage jobs through free trade.

I also welcome other members of the Senate and the House who are
with us today. Thank you all for coming. The stage just wasn't big
enough for you. (Laughter.)

I appreciate Ambassador Bianchi from Chile, and also Ambassador
Heng Chee Chang from Singapore. I appreciate you all coming. I want
to thank the representatives of the business community who are here
with us today.

We support free trade in America because it is vital to the
creation of jobs. It's vital to the success of our economy. Exports
accounted for roughly one quarter, one quarter of our economy's growth
in the 1990s.

Jobs and exporting plants pay wages that average up to 18 percent
more than jobs in non-exporting plants. Over the past decade, NAFTA
and the Uruguay Round have raised the standards of living of the
average American family of four by up to $2,000 a year. Free trade is
important for the American citizen. The continued advance of free
trade is essential to this nation's prosperity.

The United States also supports free trade because a world that
trades in freedom will grow in prosperity and in security. For
developing nations, free trade tied to economic reform has helped to
lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. The growth of
economic freedom and ownership in developing countries creates the
habits of liberty and creates the pressure for democracy and political
reform. Economic integration through trade can also foster political
cooperation by promoting peace between nations. As free trade expands
across the earth, the realm of human freedom expands with it.

When Congress passed trade promotion authority last year, I
promised to use that tool aggressively to open up new markets for
American exporters and to help create high paying jobs for American
workers. And we moved. I want to thank Ambassador Zoellick and his
team from all across our administration for getting to work right
away. And we've seen results.

The free trade agreement with Chile is our first ever with a South
American country. The agreement will benefit many American industries,
including agriculture and construction equipment, autos and auto parts,
computers, medical equipment, paper products and financial services.
American-made heavy machinery, such as a motor grader, costs $11,220
more in Chile because of extra tariffs. If that machinery were made in
Canada or the European Union, it would carry no tariff. Our trade
agreement with Chile will eliminate these kinds of tariffs and our
manufacturers will be able to compete on a level playing field. And as
we sell that heavy equipment into Chile, somebody is more likely to
find work in America in a good, high-paying job.

The agreement with Chile also includes new projections for
intellectual property, a secure legal framework for U.S. investors and
strong provisions for protecting labor and the environment. For
decades, Chile has proven the power of open trade and sound policies.
It has become one of the strongest economies in the developing world.
By establishing free trade with the world's largest economy, Chile will
have the opportunity to advance even further and to help make the
entire region more prosperous.

The agreement between the United States and Singapore is also
historic -- the first between the United States and an Asia-Pacific
country. Singapore is already America's 12th largest trading partner
and imports a full range of American products, from machine parts and
computers to agricultural products. This agreement will increase
access to Singapore's dynamic markets for America's exporters and
service providers and investors. The agreement contains state of the
art protections for Internet commerce and intellectual property that
will help drive growth and innovation in our technology sectors. There
are also strong labor and environmental protections in our agreement
with Singapore.

I signed this legislation today fully expecting to sign many more
free trade agreements. We're now negotiating with Australia and
Morocco, five nations in Central America, and the Southern African
Customs Union. Soon we will begin negotiations with Bahrain and the
Dominican Republic. We're working with 33 other nations in our
hemisphere to create the free trade area of the Americas. We're
encouraging the free flow of commerce and investment among our partners
in APEC and ASEAN, and hope to build on the success of our trade
agreements with Jordan and Israel by establishing a U.S.-Middle East
free trade area within a decade to create new opportunity and new hope
in a region that needs both.

The greatest gains from world trade will come from completing the
World Trade Organization's global negotiations. We made good progress
since the negotiations started nearly two years ago, and WTO members
can build on this progress next week in Cancun, Mexico. Completing the
global negotiations by the 2005 deadline is essential, because opening
global markets is a pathway to economic success for rich and poor
nations alike. The spread of free trade reflects this nation's
convictions. We believe in the dignity of every human being. We
believe in freedom.

Free trade also serves the interests of the United States. It
serves in the interest of our workers. We will benefit from more
trading partners around the world. We want our partners to grow in
wealth. We want them to grow in freedom. Chile and Singapore are
examples of economic liberty and demonstrate the great promise of
trade. I'm honored to sign into the law these two pieces of
legislation, implementing our free trade agreements with our friends
Chile and Singapore. (Applause.)